In the early design phase of complex engineering systems, models are usually made up of a set of equations (i.e., equality constraints) among all the design variables in the system. This set of equations forms a constraint network. An algebraic constraint management system (“CMS”) can be used to robustly solve the set of equations in the constraint network, to conduct trade studies, and to evaluate the performance and affordability metrics modeled by the constraint network.
The constraint management system historically has had difficulty solving a set of equations that model alternative engineering system configurations (e.g., a data-dependent constraint network, where the equations that are active depend upon the configuration under study). What is needed is an improved constraint management system and method for maintaining computational flow in a data-dependent constraint network.